Always be yourself, unless you can be a colossal, fire-breathing lizard. Way back in the halcyon days at the dawn of 21st century, dragon decks were all the rage with the guys at Parkland. I, having a nearly pathological aversion to anything trendy, refused to indulge in such frivolity.
And then they printed the best dragon card ever: Form of the Dragon.
Lesser players were trying to curry the favor of dragons; I WAS a dragon. Obviously, this required me to fill the deck with all the best burn spells I could find. To limit my search, I restricted myself to fire. For a while, I ran both Kindle and Flame Burst, but ultimately cut the latter because it was too much of a pain to keep them straight in my graveyard.
Over time, the deck came to rely on Mana Flare, Gauntlet of Might, and Extraplanar Lens to ramp my mana (and being what I am, I ran Snow-Covered Mountains so that I didn’t have to share my Extraplanar Lens). These were explained as being part of Burny’s hoard, which further prompted me to put all the best, most powerful artifacts I could find in the deck.
But the power of a dragon inevitably brings ennui. I came to realize that the deck had become an artifact ramp deck that barely needed the red mana to function. It was no longer a dragon deck. So Burny had a heart-to-heart with his long-time lackey, Jeff the Goblin, and they concluded that it was time to get back to basics.
The deck as it runs now is dedicated to damage spells and enchantments that amplify damage spells, like Furnace of Rath and Repercussion. People often get so distracted by a dragon’s fiery breath that they spend the rest of their lives ignoring the fact that a dragon is also a physically imposing monster. To remind them, I included some blanket damage spells representing a dragon’s physical prowess in the form of Devastate and Smash to Dust.
It is a fairly open secret that Burny had dalliances with both Jaya Ballard and Chandra Nalaar, both of whom left some of their stuff at his cave when they split up. That’s why you’ll find Jaya’s goggles and Chandra’s gauntlets in the sideboard, along with other superb burn spells because there are just too many to choose from.
Homebrew Cycle – Gold Boons, Part 2
Rounding out this ten-card cycle are the boons I designed for the enemy-colored pairs. Most of these were pretty straightforward. And then there was white-black. Honestly, I could post five homebrew cards that were rejects for white-black. But without further ado, here they are:
The first cards I remember making 0/1 tokens were Caribou Range, Breeding Pit, and Sengir Autocrat, and I still remember when Townsfolk was a creature type.
What this card does is fill in your ranks with cheap fodder. Fodder that is ripe to be inspired by a Glorious Anthem or fit for sacrifice to Culling the Weak. White and black both have a history of instant-speed creatures, so this felt right.
Black and green have long used their graveyard as a resource, with dredge being the original keyword for the Golgari. They also have a shared history of recurring combos and milling as a cost.
This card provides additional utility by fighting back against mill. This is fitting for green, as the natural enemy of mill’s favorite colors: blue and black, and also for black, whose life drain effects have always let it recover as well as harm.
My first draft of this card simply said “Target creature gains ward 3 until end of turn.” Then it occurred to me that it probably wouldn’t do anything, since it won’t trigger against an ability or spell that is already on the stack.
So I went back to the idea of old cards becoming keywords. For the colors that get hexproof, a soft counter that can protect you as well as your permanents seemed fitting.
Obviously, draw three cards, discards three cards was right out for power reasons. What else do red and blue share? Fragile, ephemeral creatures. Ball Lightning, Spark Elemental, Psionic Entity, and Tidal Wave are great examples.
This guy’s not sticking around very long, nor does it need to. The name Thunderwave was taken, but this is definitely the kind of spell a Prodigal Sorcerer or Prodigal Pyromancer would cast.
I wanted so badly for Crossbow Infantry to be good, but it never was. Fortunately, the powers that be graced me with Catapult Squad. Thanks in no small part to that gem, my Onslaught block deck can still hold its own against modern block decks, despite the power creep.
Here we see a toned-down Lightning Bolt that shares design space with white, just like Burning Oil and Fire at Will.